NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22892, 13 December 1939, Page 18

NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE

CROSSING OP RAKAIA RIVER USE FOR FIRST TIME YESTERDAY The largest railway bridge in New Zealand, over the Rakaia river,. was opened to traffic for the first time yesterday morning, and from now on will be used by all trains to and from the south. The bridge, which is 5270 feet long, replaces a ,-60-year-old wooden bridge. The change from the old bridge to the new yesterday was made without any formal ceremony, between the passage over the Rakaia of the ,Christ-church-Invercargill express at 9.50 a.m. and the mixed Train from Ashburton, which crossed the new bridge at 12.30 p.m. - ■ . ■ The new bridge will mean a saving of two and a half minutes for express

trains between Christchurch' and Ashburton. Once the precautions ruling the crossing of newly-constructed lines have been observed there will be no speed restriction over the new bridge. Trains will then be able to cross it at 50 miles an hour, in contrast to, the 20 miles an hour maximum on the old bridge. The saving in time will make necessary minor alterations in express timetables. One such change will provide a 10-minutes. stop for refreshments at Ashburton, instead of the sevrni minutes now allowed. . T The hew bridge was originally esti-i mated to cost £85,000. It has been built a- short distance upstream of the old wooden bridge, which was actually 207 feet longer. 'Embanked for three chains at the southern end, the’ new bridge consists of 143 40-foot spans, each of the girders for. which weighs more, than 10, tons. . Provision has been made for ample free board above the river, the decking of the new bridge being six feet higher than that of its wooden predecessor, which as a combined road and rail traffic bridge whs for many years perhaps the best-known feature of the journey from - Christchurch to. Timaru. ,